Modi Might Win, but India Will Lose

BJ Sadiq surveys the run-up to the world's largest election.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi addresses a public meeting, in Jagtial on 18 March 2024 as part of his campaign tour. Photo: Sipa US/Alamy

Narendra Modi is having a busy 2024. The year started auspiciously for his political party, the BJP, when in January, he consecrated a Hindu temple on the ruins of a historic Mughal-era mosque in the northern city of Ayodha. It was an unusually sultry January afternoon, with the sun shining from a cloudless sky. The temple has been built on the site of the Babri mosque, named after Mughal emperor Babur; the 16^th century mosque was brutally torn down in 1992 by a fanatical and unapologetic Hindu mob; a spectacle that many believe blotted India’s age-old secular foundations, and irreparably altered its political landscape.

Clad in a flowing gold-coloured kurta tunic; and flushed with all his formidable Hindu ideology; he was seen mumbling holy verses from the Hindu scriptures, before bowing to a 51-inch black stone deity of Lord Ram placed in a sanctum sanctorum – an ancient Hindu God of extraordinary imperial significance, crowned with multicoloured garlands.

Outside, an incalculable multitude had streamed to the site; all charged up, crowding about the temple, amidst the hum of clarinets and dholaks. Nearly 8000 state guests attended the ceremony from different parts of the country; including leading Bollywood actors like Amitabh Bachchan.  A military helicopter was also seen circling the airspace, sprinkling the site with freshly perfumed petals.